Numerous goods must be processed or treated in some form or manner in order to place the product in a consumable form. Freshly harvested produce is an exemplary product normally requiring further treatment before it may be shipped in commerce. Raw produce typically requires treating of the produce which generally includes treating the produce with various treating agents such as cleansing, sanitizing, waxing and polishing agents needed to place the produce in condition for shipment and human consumption. This is exemplified by the conveying and cleaning of produce pieces such as fruits and vegetables which processing has changed little over the last several decades. Most fruits and vegetables have a delicate and often fragile protective skin which, when marred or skinned, renders the produce susceptible to premature spoilage. Produce pieces such as fruits and vegetables are typically mechanically conveyed and cleaned in mass. The movement of the produce pieces upon mechanical conveyors typically relies upon the produce pieces themselves to force and advancely move the produce pieces along the conveyor system. The conveying and cleaning operation under these conditions causes the produce pieces to be co-mingled, bumped, impacted and pushed as they proceed together along the path or the conveyor. The machinery and its operation causes the produce pieces to be impacted and jammed against one another. As a result, substantial damages to the produce pieces such as puncturing, bruising, skinning, abrasions and cutting will typically occur during the treatment and conveying operation.
The seriousness of the processing problem is typified by the use of cleaning and conveying equipment to prepare apples and other damagable produce for shipment. In apple processing plants, freshly picked or unclean and stored apples are typically placed in a large holding vat partially or fully filled with an aqueous cleansing solution. The apples being less dense than water tend to float within the holding tank. Conventionally, a large continuous apron equipped with rubber slats engages the buoyant apples and force feeds the apples from the vat to an apple washing and drying chamber. In the washing and drying chamber the rolling movement of the apples being processed propels the apples through the chamber. Puncturing of the skin by apple stems along with bruising and abrasion of a significant number of the processed apples inherently arises during this processing stage as well as the other processing stages. Since it is usually desirable to protectively coat the apples with a wax coating, an aqueous wax solution is frequently applied to the cleaned and dried apples which again necessitates subjecting the apples to further conveyance and mass movement through another drying chamber until they are sufficiently dried for forwarding to the apple polishing rolls which remove any residual moisture and typically polish the apples to a highly attractive polished apple product. Mass intermingling and pushing of the apples during this processing stage again gives rise to substantial damage losses. Wax accumulation upon the conveying equipment leads to costly down-time to clean wax deposits from the machinery and maintenance or replacement of equipment parts.
The current processing plants must also necessarily conduct a number of sequential processing steps involving separate equipment and separate labor intensive stagewise requirements to produce the desired end product. Thus, substantial time, expenses and effort are required to process a raw produce to a finished produce product for distribution and consumer consumption. For example, the processing of apples by such produce plants is costly. The machinery needed to clean, convey, dry, apply an aqueous pre-wax coating, dry and then to polish the wax coated apples typically necessitates a capital investment of several hundred thousand dollars even for a small family-owned operation. Due to the costly capital investments needed to equip and operate an apple processing plant, only the larger producers are blessed with sufficient resources and capacity to conduct such capital and labor intensive operations.
The dilemma confronting the apple processing producers is compounded by the substantial processing damages to the apples simply by the manner in which they are necessarily processed. Certain importing countries such as Japan have stringent produce importation requirements. Damaged and spoiled produce are often prohibited from importation. Since significant damage significant damage arises by processing with current equipment, domestic produce processed with conventional equipment and processing conditions usually cannot meet the stringent foreign importation requirements for produce, such as required by Japan. Potential export marketing of such blemished produce is not feasible with existing equipment and operating conditions. The processing of more fragile produce such as freshly ripened tomatoes, peaches, apricots, etc. creates a processing situation in which the produce susceptibility to damage poses an even greater problem. Produce processing plants and produce growers often, by necessity, produce and process partially ripened or green produce so as to reduce the amount of damage and spoilage caused through the use of existing processing equipment. Many produce consumers would desire a more mature ripened produce if it were available.
There exists a need for processing equipment which would significantly reduce the level of damage and spoilage caused by such processing equipment. Processing equipment capable of isolating and separately treating and processing individual produce pieces would result in a substantial reduction in damage and produce spoilage. Compact cleaning and conveying equipment which would eliminate the need for bulky drying chambers or prolonged drying intervals would also result in substantial savings in capital investment and labor. A conveying and cleaning machine comprised of conveying brushes which would clean, partially dry, allowance for the application of a wax or other treating agent and dry the applied wax sufficiently to permit the wax coated produce to be polished (without resulting in a conventional excessive wax build-up upon the polishing rolls) would fulfill a long awaited need. A conveying and applying system which would permit produce pieces to be treated with treating agents and an effective retrieval of treating agent excesses for reuse would represent a substantial savings in treating agent costs to the producer. A compact process which would clean, apply wax and dry the produce sufficiently for polishing in a continuous conveyor would represent a substantial departure from prior art processing operations. Equipment and processing conditions which would permit the cleaning, wax application and necessary drying to be conducted upon a conveying brush and cleaning system would afford definitive processing advantages to produce processors over current equipment and processing conditions. Such a unique processing operation would also facilitate the production rate and capacity of processing plants. A wax applying system which would apply the wax to the produce, allow the waxed produce to be forwarded to the polishing rolls and continuously remove excess wax from developing within the conveying system would alleviate a current need to periodically stop operation and clean wax from the processing equipment as well as costly equipment replacements.